The present invention relates to an information display window of an electronic appliance, such as a portable communication terminal, audio equipment and so forth, and the information display window is built in the cabinet of the appliance.
The electronic appliance, such as a mobile telephone, a portable CD player and so forth, has for example a built-in LCD (liquid crystal display) and displays various kinds of information, such as telephone numbers, music numbers and the operating state of the appliance. Generally, in these small sized appliances, an information display window is formed at the cabinet and the surface of the LCD is exposed through this window.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an information display window part of the conventional small sized electronic appliance. FIG. 2 is an expanded sectional view showing a transparent panel used in the information display window shown in FIG. 1. A cabinet 102 has a built-in LCD 104 and an opening part 106 is formed at the front part of the cabinet 102 and a transparent panel 108 made of for example synthetic resin is fitted into the opening part 106 and an information display window 110 is formed. Generally, the outer surface 112 of the transparent panel 108 has a satin finish and the gloss of the outer surface is lessened as shown in FIG. 2.
In order to make the product value of electronic appliances high at the viewpoint of cosmetic design, there are many cases that designers make the outer surface 114 of the cabinet 102 glossy. However, as mentioned above, the outer surface 112 of the transparent panel 108 has a satin finish and the gloss of the outer surface 112 is lessened, therefore the total cosmetic design including the cabinet 102 and the information display window 110 does not have unity and is not satisfied. Recently the information display 110 has been large sized, because the information quantity to be displayed has increased, therefore this kind of problem is liable to occur.
Moreover, at the case that the rim part of the outer surface 112 of the transparent panel 108 is chamfered as shown in FIG. 1 and is made to be the same height level of the outer surface 114 surrounding the opening part 106 of the cabinet 102, the satin finish of the chamfered part 116 is taken out by the cutting process for chamfering and the chamfered part 116 becomes glossy. As a result, the gloss of the center part and the rim part of the transparent panel 108 becomes different and there is a problem that the total cosmetic design has some strange feeling. This problem must be improved.
On the other hand, it is possible that the outer surface 112 of the transparent panel 108 is not processed to be a satin finish and has a polished surface. However, in this case, at the time when fine dust enters into the space between the surface of the LCD 104 and the transparent panel 108 during the manufacturing time or the operating time of the appliance, the fine dust is liable to be seen because the transparent panel 108 is fully transparent and the fine scratch formed on the surface of the LCD 104 is also liable to be seen.
Therefore, in order not to make the fine dust enter into the space between the surface of the LCD 104 and the transparent panel 108 during the manufacturing time, a big facility such as a clean room is needed or a severe inspection is required. Moreover, the changing frequency of the LCD 104 becomes high. With this, the total cost is increased by the required investment, part cost and labor cost.
The Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. HEI 7-26233 discloses a display panel in which at the case that the display panel is covered with a curved surface glass, a doubled image is liable to be displayed by the reflection light of the inner surface of the glass. In order to avoid the doubled image, the sandblasting is applied to the inner surface of the glass. And this sandblasting process is also able to be implemented by a molding process.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 2-37798 discloses a fixing method of a panel cover to a cabinet in which a rubber made switch is used and this rubber made switch has a convex shape part and the panel cover is pushed into the place between the panel and the convex shape part of the rubber switch. With this, the panel cover does not vibrate, and any screws or glue or any jigs to fix the panel cover are not needed and the assembly process is simplified.
The Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. HEI 5-71416 discloses a mechanism fixing a front glass to a panel which does not use adhesive tape on both sides and fits the front glass into the panel mechanically. With this, the painting at the place of adhesive tape is not needed and the assembly process is simplified.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information display window of an electronic appliance that is able to improve the cosmetic design without making the cost increase.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, for achieving the above mentioned objects, an information display window of an electronic appliance which is provided at a cabinet of an electronic appliance having a built-in display is constituted of an opening part formed in the cabinet to the front surface of said display and a transparent panel fitted into said opening part. And an outer surface of said transparent panel is a glossy surface and an inner surface of said transparent panel is a satin finish surface.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, said transparent panel is made of synthetic resin and is generally formed into a rectangular shape.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a rim of said opening part becomes a window frame and a step part being low to the inside direction of said cabinet is formed at the whole inner rim of said window frame and said transparent panel is supported by said window frame, by that the outer rim of said transparent panel is disposed on said step part of said window frame.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, said window frame is formed with said cabinet as one body.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, an inner surface of the outer rim of said transparent panel and an upper surface of said step part of said window frame are stuck with adhesive tape on both sides.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a film of paint is painted on the inner surface of the outer rim of said transparent panel.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, said outer rim of the outer surface of said transparent panel is formed to be a slant shape whose thickness is that the nearer to the end of the outer rim is, the thinner the thickness is.
According to a eighth aspect of the present invention, an outer surface of said transparent panel is formed to a curved shape in convex shape to the outside direction.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, said transparent panel is formed by a curved plate and is a convex shape to the outside direction.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, a rim of said opening part becomes a window frame and a step part being low to the outside direction of said cabinet is formed at the whole inner rim of said window frame and a step part being low to the inside direction of said cabinet is formed at the whole outer rim of said transparent panel on the outside surface of said transparent panel and said transparent panel is supported by said window frame, by that said step part of said window frame is fitted into said step part of said transparent panel.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, said electronic appliance is a portable electronic appliance and said portable electronic appliance is a communication apparatus and said communication apparatus is any of a communication terminal, a radio selective-calling receiver and an individual calling receiver and said portable electronic appliance is audio equipment and said audio equipment is any of a CD player, a tape-recorder and a MD player and so forth.
According to the present invention, the outer surface of said transparent panel is a glossy surface, even the cabinet of the electronic apparatus has a glossy surface, the unity feeling of the cabinet and the information display window is not lost. Further, the inner surface of the transparent panel is a satin finish surface, therefore even at the case that fine dust is entered into the space between the transparent panel and the display, or the front surface of the LCD has some scratches being practically no problem, these fine dust or some scratches are actually not noticeable.